Half to citauncey thomas



UNITED STATES JOSEPH L. LAWRENCE, OF BOSTON,

MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGN OR OF ONE- IIALF TO Ol'IAUNCEY TIIOMAS d: CO., OF SAME PLACE.

HANSOM-CAB.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 618,039, dated January 1v, 1899. Application nedsepttmber 9,1898. serial No. necesi. (No mann To all whom it muy concern:

13e it known that I, JosErH L. LAWRENCE, a subject oi' the Queen of Great Britain, re-

siding at Boston, county of Suolk, and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Hansoin-Cabs, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a'speciiication, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention is an improvement in hans0m-cabs, and has for its leading object the provision of simple and positive mechanism for operating the doors and window which close and give access to the front of the cab, my invention being not only positive and noiseless in its action, but being also not liable to get out of order. In Iny application Serial, No. 662,374 I have disclosed a mechanism which although satisfactory from manyv standpoints yet occupies too much space and at the same time is exposed to view and interference more than is desirable, my said previous invention, moreover, making use of and displaying certain operatingstraps,whieh rapidly deteriorate, are obnoxious to the view, and, moreover, require both hands of the driver in their manipulation. Accordingly l have devised the hereindescribed invention, in which the window is operated positively by a simple movement of a single hand-lever to the right or left, as required, all the operating connections between said lever and the window being entirely concealed beneath the eab-lining in the framework of the vehicle, and in which the doors are also opened and closed by a single hand-lever, whose connections are likewise entirely concealed, the doors not even having any levers or special devices in view, but being simply provided at their lower ends with an elongated pintle or rod, which carries a bevel-gear in mesh with a pinion at the adjacent end of a rod connected by a universal joint with other rods and gearing leading to the drivers lever.

My invention in its details of construction and operation will be more particularly set l'ort-h in the follon ing description, and the in vention will be further defined in the ap-A pended claims, y

ln the drawings, in which l have shown my invention in its preferred embodiments, Figure l is a vertical longitudinal section through a cab, showing the various details of my invention, mainly in side elevation. Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse section taken on the line 2 2, Fig. 1;. and Fig. 3 is a sectional detail of a stop, to be described.

The cab has a body A, with doors (t and window l), all of usual or preferred construe tion, a usual drivers seat being provided at the rear, where it is shown broken oil. at c, the steps and dashboard at the front of the vehicle being also herein omitted in order to present the device in more enlarged detail.

The doors (t are properly hinged to the body of the cab by suitable hinges a' a?, the latter having, as herein shown, an elongated pintle a3, in the form of a strong rod extending downward beneath the Iloor of the vehicle and having, below a journal bearing or bracket al, a imiter-gear n.5 fixed thereon. In mesh with this gear is a pinion a, fast ona rod c?, having a bearing as at its forward end and con versal joint c at its rear end'to a rod al", j ournaled, preferably, beneath the seat of the vehicle. The rod am is provided at its rear end with a miter-gcar cl2, meshing with a correspondingly-beveled gear c. of a horizontal shaft a, which extends across the vehicle at the rear side thereof, it being understood that corresponding parts are provided for each door and connect with the shaft a at its opposite ends in order that the doors may be simultaneously operated. The shaft a earries an intermediate gear a, meshing with a pinion al of an operating-shaft a", which extends in front of the driver, where it is proj'vided with a hand-lever n.18, so that the driver simply by turning this handle one way or the cisely as desired. Y

Adjacent the hand -lever als is a second hand-lever b', which, however, is preferably journaled to move in a vertical plane instead of in a horizontal plane, as the level a. The lever b is fast on a stub-shaft b2, extending just through the wall of the cab, where it is provided with a beveled gear 71, in mesh with a corresponding gear lf of a rock-shaft lf', provided at each end with a roeker-arm I1", con

nectcd by a pivotcd link 1F to the ireeend Il nected by means of a gimbal or other uni.

other can positively move the doors c pre-4 of a segmental gear b9, pivoted at Z110 to the side of the cab and meshing with a spur-pinion Z212, journaled in the side of the eab and having its axle provided at its inner end with a crank-arm bis, pivotally connected at Z114 with a bracket 515, secured at the rear side or end of the window b.

At its upper edge the window b is provided at each end with a grooved roller Z116, which travels in a slotway or track b, herein shown as composed of a rod bis, bent around'parallel to itself (see Fig. l) and covered with leather to constitute anoiseless track.

'lhe window and doors at their meeting ends are rabbeted, as indicated at d, in order that they may interlock in usual manner.

It is often desirable to hold the window partly open, slanting outward toward its lower end, and accordingly I provide a stop, (see Fig. 1 and shown in enlarged detail in Fig. 3,) so that when the lever b is turned Sutheiently merely to tip the window forward as desired the stop may be engaged with the 1ever b to hold it. Said stop comprises a plunger h2o, having an enlarged or flanged head b21 and held normally inward by a spring b2, as shown in Fig. 3, said spring bearing against a pin or other hold ZPS at one end and at its other end against a shoulder or Hange Z1, so that the moment the lever b is moved out from under the engaging lip or flange of the head of the plunger the latter dies against the baek'of'the cab out of kthe way of thelever. This feature is of particular advantage in connectionrwith the positive mechanism already describedffor.adjusting the window, as, supposing it israining and yet the weather is sufficiently close to require that the window be partly, open, this arrangement permits the window to be thrown out at its lower end enough to admit the required amount of air, while at the same time shedding the rain, and yet because of the positive holding mechanism the ywindow cannot possibly jar or rattle.

Inoperation when a passenger is to be admitted or wishes to get out, it being supposed that the doersy and window are closed, the driver, still holding the reins in his right hand, as usual, -grasps the handle b with his left hand and turns the lever slightly to the right, thereby rocking the rock-shaft b5 and cranks 11G forward, so as to swing the segmental gearsv b9 to the rear and correspondingly rotate the pinions Z112, whose arms AZ113 positively swing the window outwardly at its lower edge and compel theuipper edge thereof to move backwardly beneath the top of the cab under the guidance of its rollers bw. It will be observed that the pivot b is near the lower edge of the window, and accordingly when the window is in its open position, with its lower edge then extending forward just under the front edge of the cab, it will be apparent that the window will be held in its raised position by its own gravity, the arms b1 being then in an approxi mately vertical position. Having raised the window, the driver thereupon turns the handle als' also tol the right thereby through the rotation of the operating-shaft a. rocking the shaft a over rearwardly, and thereby through the rods am a? turning the gears a and a5, so as to rotate the rod a3 and open the doors.

It is of great advantage to operate the doors by means of positively-connected gearing and shafts, especially when all the parts are concealed, and this is also au important advantage of the window-operating mechanism, inasmuch as there are no parts which can possibly become slack or liable to rattle, and all the power-transmitting mechanism is entirely concealed from view and no parts are liable to discommode the occupants of the vehicle.

My invention provides mechanism which is permanentiu character and not liable to get out of order,being also relatively inexpensive.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a hansom-cab, a door, a rod fixed to said door in alinement with the hinge-pintle thereof, said rod extending downwardly from the lower end of thedoor and having fixed at its lower end a gear, a transverse shaft journaled in the bottom of the body at the rear thereof, said shaft having a beveled gear thereon, a rod extending forward from said last-mentioned gear, and a second rod extending rearward from said first-mentioned gear, said rods being connected by a universal joint and having at their free ends beveled gears meshing res pecti velywith said two pre- 'IOO viously-mentioned gears, and a shaft eXtending verticallyat the rear of the cab-body to the drivers seat and carrying a gear in mesh with a gear on said transverse shaft, substantially as described.

2. In ahansom-cab, a pair of doors, a trans verse shaft journaled at the rear in the 'bot= tom of the cab-body, said shaft having adja= cent its opposite ends beveled gears, said doors each carrying a fixed rod in alinement with the lower hinge-pintle of its door, said rods having at their lower ends gears, and rod connections between each of the l door; gears and said transverse shaft, said rod connections having at their opposite ends gears in mesh respectively with the end gears of the transverse shaft and with said door-gears, and a single shaft extending upwardly at the back of the cab to the drivers seat, said shaft having at its lower end a beveled gear, and said transverse shaft having an adjacent bev` eled gear in mesh therewith, substantially as described. i

3. In a hansom-cab, a door, a rod fixed to said door in alinement with thehinge-pintle thereof, said rod extending downwardly from the lower end of the door and provided at its lower end with a gear, au operating-shaft extending adjacent the drivers seat, said shaft being provided at its lower end with a gear, abcvel-gear in mesh with said other gears re spectvely, and a rod extending from cach of said bevel-gears, said rods being connected together by a universal joint, substantially as described.

4C. In a hansom-cab, a Window for closing the front of the cab, arms pivotally supporting said Window at its opposite ends, a pinion fixed to one of said arms, a segmental gear pivoted to the side of the cab and in mesh with` said pinion, a rock-shaft and rocker-arm at the rear of the cab and pivotally connected to said segmental gear bya link, and means for rocking said rock-shaft, substantially as described.

5. In a hansom-cab, a Window for closing thefront of the eab, arms pivotally supporting said Window at its opposite. ends, a pinion fixedl to one of said arms, a segmental gear pivoted to the side of the cab and in mesh with said pinion, a rook-shaft and rocker-arm at the rear of the cab and piv otally connected to said segmental gear by a link, a stub-shaft and hand-lever, saidlshaft being geared to said rock-shaft for operating the latter, substantially as described.

6. In a hansombab, a window for closing the front of the cab, means between the Window and the drivers seat for operating said Window, said means including a shaft and JOSEPH L. LAWRENCE.

Witnesses:

Y GEO. H. MAXWELL,

FREDERICK L. EMERY. 

